


Love in Color, Full Bright

by lovehugsandcandy



Category: Ride or Die (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2020-03-06 02:00:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18841339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovehugsandcandy/pseuds/lovehugsandcandy
Summary: Colt has to go back to the safe deposit box.





	1. Chapter 1

Colt didn’t know if his life was ending or if it was beginning, if he would settle down and stay or yank up the roots that were tying him here and disappear into the night. All he could do right now was pull Ellie closer as she slept, softly dropping a kiss on each closed eye, on her nose, her lips, and listen to her breathe as he watched the moon move through the sky.

~~~~~

He had to leave early to make it there before it closed. Luckily, Mona had no plans and was willing to close the shop for him. If it were later in the week, he had no doubt she would tell him off and leave to go out, run the town like always. Mondays were quiet, usually, so she agreed to help him out. He knew he would need to pay for it down the line, but this errand was worth it.

He made it there 15 minutes before closing. He hadn’t come in years but still remembered the procedure, what to say, what to bring. Alone in the back room, alone with his thoughts, and this random case from his past.

His hands skated over the contents. He remembered thinking how much money there was in here; now, seven years later, he knew it wasn’t enough for the things he now needed to do, plans he now needed to make. He grabbed the smaller box, a quick check to make sure it was still in there. The ring sparkled in the light, bigger than he remembered, as if it had grown.

He shoved it in his pocket, closing the case, and left. He was going to be home late and Ellie would look at him, frown, and worry. 

He worried too.

~~~~~

The next day, he stopped his bike at the cliff, walking out to the edge, staring at the water lap at the shore. He wanted complete privacy for this call and this was the best place for it.

The phone rang once, twice, three times and finally an answer. “Hello?”

“Hi, mom.”

“Hi! How are you?” He could hear noise in the backgrounds, crowds. She was still at work.

No use dragging this out. “Ma, I gotta ask you something.”

“What?” He could hear the waver in her voice; after all the shit he pulled, she was understandably nervous.

“Did you and Pop ever wanna get married?”

“What?!?” He waited. “Colt…..”

“I just wanna know.”

She sighed, loud, and there was a loud scrape as she shifted the phone. “No. We never talked about it but we never really wanted to. Why?”

He touched the box in his pocket, careful fingers tracing the sides. “No reason. I gotta go, Ma. I’ll call you later?”

“Ok. I love you.”

“Love you too.”

He watched the waves for a while, the sun sinking down. It was beautiful here, peaceful. As the years had gone by, he had come here a lot. It was hard, at first, facing the memories, facing his past. Now, it was comforting, almost like his dad was here with him. He wondered what his dad would tell him to do.

When he got home, Ellie was sitting at her desk, massive textbook in front of her, laptop balanced in her lap.

“You’re late.” She didn’t even look up. Shit, she was annoyed.

“Sorry, baby.” He walked over to drop a kiss on her forehead as she rubbed her eyes.

“It’s ok.” She looked up at him, smiling weakly. “It’s fine, really. I just….I don’t feel great.”

He bent down to pull her into his arms, rubbing slow circles on her back. He didn’t think he could help her. He’d never been able to help any of the people he cared about. Why would now be different?

~~~~~

Wednesday found him pulling into a familiar restaurant. He walked in, past the host’s station, glancing around. It was dead, as per usual; the most successful part of his uncle’s restaurant was definitely not the food and beverage part of the establishment.

He sat at the bar, drumming his finger’s on the wood. He didn’t come here a lot but, since his uncle was one of his only family members in LA and one of the last connections he had to his dad, Colt definitely wasn’t a stranger here. He only had to wait a few minutes until Takehito emerged from the back.

He didn’t look shocked to see Colt, settling next to him at the bar.

“You wanna drink?”

Colt shook his head. “No, not today. I want info.”

“On what?” His uncle reminded him of his dad, so much that it hurt to look at him at times. Same hair, same eyes, same desire for a life of freedom, same distaste for the law.

He pulled out the box. “This was my dad’s. Who was it for?”

“Whoa.” His uncle studied the ring under the dim light of the bar. “This is quite a rock.”

“I know.”

“This was Teppei’s?”

“It was in the safe deposit box.”

“Hmmmm….”

Colt waited, looking around. The place was still empty, a lone employee sitting near the back, playing games on his phone. It was probably a boring place to be if you didn’t touch the back room deals.

“Do you know when he got it?”

“No.”

Takehito shrugged, putting the ring back. “I don’t think he bought it for anyone, no one that I knew at least. And I would have known. Maybe he won it, somewhere along the line? Payment for a car?”

Colt put the box in his pocket. He didn’t expect that Takehito would know anything, but it was a disappointment regardless.

“Maybe he meant for you to have it.”  

He tried to keep his face impassive. He did his damnedest to keep Ellie as far from his family tree as he could; it hadn’t exactly gone well the last time.

“Maybe he left it for you. Is there a reason you’re asking about it now?” Takehito turned to him, eyes probing.

He kept looking forward, covering his mouth with his hand until he he knew his face was expressionless. “Just tying up the loose ends.”

He turned to go, he had to leave, now, but an arm on his shoulder stopped him. “I actually need your help with something as well.”

Colt looked back at Takehito, the set of his eyes, the frown tugging at the corner of his mouth. Fuck. He sank back into the bar stool. “A job.”

“A job.” His uncle nodded, grimly, before starting a story about a rival pusher, a tough night, and a stray bullet hitting a friend. Colt could only nod and do what he did best.

On the way home, already late fuck, he stopped at the grocery store, rushing through the aisles. He had no idea what to buy, what she would like, what would make her feel better, but he did his best. Based on the confused look from the cashier, he wasn’t sure he succeeded.

Ellie was curled up with a book when he got home, pajamas on already. She didn’t even say anything about his lateness today but smiled weakly when he showed her what he brought.

“Can I make you some food?”

She shook her head. Colt thought she looked pale, worse than yesterday. “No, I’m fine.”

When she looked up, looked at his face, she smiled, but it was fake. She was trying not to worry him. It wasn’t working.

~~~~~

He did not want to be here, not at all. He was standing on the doorstep, coming straight here after work on Thursday, but he hadn’t knocked yet. It wasn’t nerves, it was the dread. One more deep breath and, fuck, the door opened.

“You know I can hear your motorcycle for blocks, right? Are you coming in?”

Colt hung his head. “Hi, Detective.”

Ellie’s dad stood aside, letting him into the entry way. “Where’s my daughter?”

“Home. She doesn’t know I’m here.”

Ellie’s dad fixed him with a look. They had come to an understanding, a stalemate. Colt didn’t talk about his family or the garage or his work or anything really; the only things Colt said in his presence were accolades about his daughter. In return, Ellie’s dad tolerated his existence and stopped threatening him with the business end of his service pistol. Not the greatest relationship in the world but it worked.

Colt reached into his pocket. “If I showed you something, could you tell me if it was hot?”

The detective raised his eyebrows but said nothing, letting his expression speak for him.

“It was my dad’s. He left it for me and I want to make sure it’s legit. That’s all.”

He handed over the box, watching as the detective opened it. Colt focused on not fidgeting under the glare he got. Finally, he got an answer. “All pieces this large have an ID code, in base of the setting. I can run it in the database and see what pops. Wait here.”

Colt shoved his hands into his pockets, walked slow circles around the room, looking at the pictures on the wall. Finally, Ellie’s dad returned and handed the ring box back. “Not hot, but pricey. Records show that it was designed ten years ago by a rich heir in Long Beach. Three years after that, insurance was purchased on it by your dad. It was never reported missing or stolen. I have no idea how he got his hands on it; I probably don’t want to know, but it’s not hot.”

Colt nodded, tucking it away. “Thank you.” Why would his dad get an engagement ring seven years ago? That was right when Colt moved back to LA, right when he forced himself into his dad’s life, and he would have remembered his dad talking about someone.

He turned to go, hand on the knob, when the detective spoke again. “You don’t have my blessing.”

Colt nodded and walked out the door, making sure it was firmly shut behind him and walking far enough away so only the bike would hear him mutter, “Didn’t ask.”

When he got home, Ellie was awake but already in bed. She looked exhausted and small, wearing his sweatshirt and resting on piles of pillows. He slid in to gather her in his arms, but she turned away.

“Where were you?”

He didn’t answer, could only trail his fingers down her back to circle her waist, dropping a kiss in her hair.

“Colt, if you don’t….” She stopped, hand wiping tears off her face. “If you can’t do this, you need to leave.”

He shut his eyes and pulled her closer. He didn’t know if he could do this without fucking it up and breaking everything around him. He couldn’t lie to her, couldn’t tell her it was going to be ok, could barely eke out a word, but he knew what he could do. He could show her. He kissed her neck, her shoulder, right there, that spot, slowly, deeply, until she made that sound that drove him mad; he kissed down her body, lips tongue and fingers moving, moving, and not stopping until she shuddered and cried out.

He crawled back up to the pillows and held her close, hands skating over her back, slow around her stomach, touching everywhere he could reach, until she finally fell asleep. She needed her rest.

~~~~~

The air was thick with incense and Colt couldn’t help but cough. This was the most ridiculous thing he had ever done and he had pulled a lot of stupid shit. At least this was relatively harmless; unlike most of the destructive decisions he had made, this wouldn’t end up hurting anyone.

The room was dark, dim and just fucking weird, exactly what he should have expected when he googled the highest rated occult shop in LA. There were weird crystals in a case underneath some kind of skull (a goat? the fuck?), next to some powders that he was sure he could move on the black market. He almost turned around, this was so stupid, but this was the last fear he had, the last item he needed to check off of his mental list of shit that could go wrong. He had fought through an hour of LA-traffic, lane-splitting the bike the entire way to get here, he might as well finish it.

“Hello?”

A bell chimed and a woman walked through a beaded curtain, hair wild around her face, scarfs billowing behind her. She stopped as she caught sight of him, head tilting, curious.

“What do you have for me?”

Colt started. “I’m sorry?”

“There is something you want to show me, yes?”

He took a step back, involuntarily. This just got creepy. “I do.” She waited, blinking up at him as he reached into his pocket. “Can you tell me if something is cursed?”

She laughed. She looked young, as young as him, but her laugh was that of an older woman, hardened by time and experience. He swallowed, wondering if it was too late to run for it.

“I can tell you many things.” She took the box and opened it, removing the ring with two gentle fingers. Even in the dim light of the shop, it gleamed, looking enormous in her small hands. 

She turned it back and forth, over and over, careful eyes studying it before putting it back into the box.

“It’s not cursed.”

Colt breathed out. He half expected her to say it was, as an excuse to hawk some magic “decursing” powder or some shit like that. He dropped the box in his pocket.

“You’re cursed.” He froze, the words stopping him in his tracks. It took a moment before he was able to smile, dry laugh slipping out. 

“I already knew that.”

She started again. “You’re cursed…but that doesn’t mean you curse others. That doesn’t mean those around you are cursed. Stop worrying about that. The curse on you is only on you.” He met her eye. “You are your choices, Colt. You can bring fire to those around you or you can lift them up. You can desert them or you can stand by them.”

He swallowed. “How did you know my name?”

An enigmatic smile was the only answer to his question. “Good luck to you, child.”

He watched her walk though the beaded curtain, into the back room. When he was sure he was alone, he fled.

Ellie was already asleep when he got home. He took a quick shower, rinsing the smoke and the magic off his hair, then curled next to her, resting his palm ever so lightly on her stomach. It didn’t feel any different but everything had changed. He dreamed of fire and cursed boys who became cursed men; he barely slept.

~~~~~

He woke up slowly gradually. The sun was high in the sky; thank God it was Saturday. He turned and Ellie was sitting at her desk, watching him, out of sweats for the first time all week. Shit. The look on her face, fuck; he needed to wake up for this.

“Good morning.”

“What’s wrong?”

She frowned, looking out the window. It took her a couple of moments to speak. “I just feel like I haven’t seen you. Since Sunday.”

She was right. He ducked his head.

“Listen, if you’re not in this, if you can’t do this with me, it’s ok, I get it. I was surprised too.”

“Ellie….” He wasn’t awake enough yet; she continued as if he hadn’t even tried to say anything at all.

“I know I surprised you but maybe this is what we needed to figure things out. For me to figure things out. Because I really need someone in my corner right now and it seems like it’s not gonna be you.”

Wait, what was she saying?

“I think I’m gonna go stay with my dad for a bit.”

Fuck. “No, not that!”

He followed her to the living room. He didn’t want her to leave, couldn’t stand to see her walk away. He was also admittedly worried about her dad’s access to guns; if Ellie moved home, especially after Thursday, he was a dead man. And he would absolutely deserve it. Hell, he would pull the trigger himself.

“Ellie, wait.”

“What, Colt?” Her hand was already on the door knob, tears in her eyes.

He reached for his jacket. “This isn’t how I wanted to do this.”

“This isn’t how I wanted to do this either! I’m in the middle of grad school, I want to get my PhD, the timing is awful, I get it!” She swiped at her face, angry. 

“Whoa, no, not that. I mean, yes, but that’s not what I meant.” 

He didn’t even think she heard him. “It just happened and I need you to decide, Colt, in or out. Will you stand by me?”

He finally got the box out of his pocket and crossed the room, seven steps, and extended his arm to her. “This isn’t how I wanted to do this.”

She froze, staring at him. He tried to will his hand to stop shaking. It didn’t work. “What?”

“I would have done it anyways, maybe not yet, but I would have.”

Finally, she took the box, turning it over in her hands. “Is this what you’ve been doing all week?”

“That’s a really long story.”

She was still playing with the box, looking down, biting her lips. He couldn’t read her face, couldn’t tell what she was thinking.

“Ellie, what do you say?”

She still wouldn’t look up, wouldn’t catch his eye.

He waited.

“Everyone will think I’m crazy. My dad, Riya…” She still wouldn’t look up.

“Fuck them all. Fuck them all, Ellie. It’s you and me, that’s all it’s ever been for me.”

She laughed, bitterly. “It’s not just you and me, not anymore.”

“No. No, it’s not. But it is us.”

Finally, finally, fucking Christ, finally, she looked at him, tears in her eyes. “You didn’t ask me.”

“What?”

She smirked, lips twitching. “Do it right.” She handed him the box back.

He stepped closer to her, only stopping when his face was inches from hers. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.” This close, he could see the mix of colors in her eyes, brown and grey and green, all colliding into the most beautiful thing in the world. 

He kissed her cheek. “I love you.” Kissed her shoulder, arm, hand, slowly kneeling, kissing her stomach, once, twice, three times. “And I love you.”

He looked up at her sob, hand in front of her mouth, eyes glistening. Shit, he didn’t want to cry but the sight of her, smiling at him like he was worth something, tears running down her cheeks. Shit.

“Ellie, marry me.”

She started crying anew, both hands in front of her mouth now.

“Ellie, baby. Come on. Marry me?”

She was grinning, smirking over him. Fuck, he ran a criminal enterprise in the middle of LA and this girl, this girl broke him. “Colt, I was expecting a list of all of my good qualities and a poem about how happy I made you.”

“Hmmm…and a room full of rose petals and some balloons and a kitten for good measure?”

“A kitten with a ring on it’s collar?”

“Ellie, you’re allergic.”

She pulled him up by his arms to meet him into a kiss, her tears falling onto his cheeks. She pulled away, smiling, crying, laughing, with a weird hiccup in her breath that would have been annoying on anyone else but was just so freaking cute on her.

“You didn’t answer.”

“What?”

“Ellie, do it right. You didn’t answer.”

She laughed, louder, peals of joy echoing through the room. “Oh my god, you know the answer.”

He grabbed her waist, pulling her against him as she laughed and laughed, kissing down her face, her neck, starting to go lower when finally she spoke again. 

“Yes, yes, oh my God yes.”

He barely remembered putting the ring on her finger, barely remembered what she said next about weddings and planning and telling her dad. He did remember their private celebration, the multiple private celebrations, under the covers and against the desk and in the shower.

Afterwards, after their celebration had ended and they were huddled in bed together, she laced their fingers together. “Where did you get the ring?”

“I told you. Long story.” 

She pulled him into a kiss, lips soft and sweet against his. “We do have the rest of our lives together.”

He could only smile at her, bearing both his ring and his child. “We do.”


	2. Chapter 2

So where the hell did his dad get the ring?

Colt wondered, burned with it, clutching Ellie close as the nights passed and her stomach grew and the world went on. Ellie only laughed; she didn’t think it mattered and, as life got busy and a baby’s cries filled their apartment, maybe she had it right after all.

But where did it come from?

A rich heir had money, more money than sense, as heirs often do. He designed it, created it, bought it to impress the woman he chased, a Kardashian (Which one? The gorgeous one. Which gorgeous one? Yes.).

After they fell apart, after he lost his time and his reputation and his esteem, he still had the ring, one thing she didn’t take from him. He held onto it, for no reason, as he sunk deeper and deeper into the drink and the sadness and the casino and the not-so-good undersides of life.

He held onto the ring, the cut of the stone never dulling, until he wagered it on a race in the middle of the desert, with the moon high in the sky and the rev of the engine in his blood. Teppei Kaneko had no need for an engagement ring but he knew an easy score when he saw one; besides, it had been so long since he felt the wind in his hair. One spin wouldn’t hurt anything.

So he won it, him and the Aylesbury, one last ride, for old time’s sake. He was planning on selling it, really, the piece would move easily and more cash couldn’t hurt, but he got busy and then distracted. His son arrived in town, with a chip on his shoulder and fire in his eyes. As desperate as Kaneko was, he couldn’t stop him, could only watch as he burned, unable to save him.

But maybe she could. Colt had taken a liking to the girl; he could see it in the way his eyes cut to her in the shop, the way he defended her, fought for her. Maybe she could do what he couldn’t. So he took the ring from his desk and went downtown on a Tuesday morning and acted like a responsible person, one whose affairs took place outside of the shadows of night.

He had it appraised, then insured, and then stuck it in the box at the bank. He would never need it but maybe, just maybe, it could help his son when he couldn’t, at a time when he was adrift and Kaneko could only watch from afar.

It would have made him happy to know that the ring was on her finger when she became his daughter-in-law, when she bore a child with a familiar fire in her eyes who would be his granddaughter.

And as time went on, the boy (rough, petulant, and made of steel hardened by time) and the girl (smart, tough, and choosing, every day, to love the boy made of steel and hardened by time), well, the boy and the girl and the ring forged a life where the origin of the ring and the choices of the past….they just. didn’t. matter.


End file.
